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The growing suicide rate in India – the reasons

A few days ago I wrote about the suicide rates of the world. India may not have the world’s highest suicide rate, but like in the rest of the world, suicides in India are growing. Here’s a graph from Maithri:

Globalisation, industrialisation and affluence…all of this has seemingly pushed our suicide rate up. While there are pockets which have higher suicide rates than the rest of the country, if one looks at the problem state-wise, one can see that it is mostly the developed states which have a higher rate of suicide.

But why? Why should so many Indians, specially those who have more access to jobs and education that ever before, want to die? Aren’t we supposed to be a spiritual people, content with our lot, with strong religious beliefs and a fatalistic attitude to life? Well, this philosophy, so rooted in our genes, has not protected even our simple village folks. Indian farmers are killing themselves in thousands!

Although the rewards are great if one does succeed, the stakes are higher and the struggle harder. Plus, society is becoming more individualistic. At one time, one brother often supported another, or the father supported a lazy son. Today its something to be ashamed of, depending financially on anyone but oneself. Here in India we still have a tendency to depend on one’s parents but this is slowly changing and if we go the way of the west, this tendency will disappear altogether. This increases pressures on individuals – and not everyone can make it. And then, the typical Indian joint family which often acted as a buffer in times of stress is breaking up.

Today, getting into IIM or IIT, scraping up a loan to pay for the education, desperately trying to get into a government medical college or in fact any reputed institute causes immense stress, even if one succeeds in the end. While many aim to get that high paying job in a multi-national, or perhaps go abroad, some start their own business, staking everything they have. If that fails…the disaster can drive people to suicide. As the graph below shows, self employed people (24 per cent) are the most vulnerable to suicide:

Housewives (21 percent) are the second largest group. This is not too difficult to understand in our society. Lack of love and respect at home, dowry harassment, mental torture at the hands of in-laws, abandonment and/or sexual abuse is often the cause of despair in women. On the other hand men are driven over the edge mostly because of financial and health related reasons. In India the suicide rate of younger women (15-25 years) is almost identical to that of men.This is abnormally high if one goes by world trends. In all the countries of the world, except China, a far higher proportion of men kill themselves as compared to women. In India the ratio starts improving in favour of women only after the age of 30, but even then, the number of Indian women killing themselves is far higher than in other parts of the world.

Farmers (15 per cent) form the next biggest group. India has seen a lot of farmer suicides in recent years. We may be in the throes of a an economic boom, but more than 25,000 farmers have killed themselves in India, mostly by consuming pesticide since the year 1997. Debt and the resulting harassment at the hands of money lenders is a major cause.

Farmers fell into debt because of a combination of high farming costs (exorbitantly priced hybrid (so-called high yielding) seeds and pesticides sold by multinationals and a lack of a good price for their produce, partly due to imports. Drought added to their woes. Irrigation was too expensive for these farmers and the state government didn’t help. This lack of interest from the state government (in the initial years) is in stark contrast to the efforts of the Gujarat government.

So what used to happen before the advent of globalisation? Well, farmers went in for low yield, low risk farming. Their crops may have failed, but they didn’t sink into debt which they could not repay…they managed to survive. It was their decision to go for high yielding crops with its resultant high cost of farming which did them in…its also a failure of our banking system that these poor farmers had to fall back on money lenders. Money lenders in rural areas are notorious for charging 30-40 per cent interest and then if the farmer does not pay, they make his life miserable. Threats to life and intimidation of family members is common. Murder is also not unheard of. Farmers often see no way out but to die.
In Maharashtra about 1,448 farmers, mostly cotton growers, committed suicide, in 2006 alone.

So is there a solution to this suicide malaise? Well, even those countries which have a good infrastructure to deal with the depressed and the mentally ill have a growing rate of suicide. And the modern world with the new society that it has spawned is not showing any signs of changing…in fact it seems to be getting worse. Its a dog eat dog world and we have to accept it. Its the path humanity is chosen and I feel it is for our long term survival. We simply have to learn to cope better with the increased competition, increased loneliness, the increased materialism. How we are going to do it I am not sure, but the toughest will always survive…and thrive.

Great analysis, Nita!
And again you have managed to shock me, you are indeed a highly professional journalist.

Reading all your articles on the development of India I can only admit the power of materialism – I believe all of the malice are caused by the increasing materialism. How do you call it in India, Kali Uga?
I grew up in the Soviet Union, as you know, and tendency is just the same. As soon as the affluence and all the material pleasures became available for people after the collapse of Soviet Union, everything got worse. exactly as you are depicting it!

It is truly amazing how matter takes over spirit… But I am sure not for a long time!
The rise of spirituality worldwide is a good sign: Especially in the affluent West people are getting fed up with that. They are looking for the way out, that is what i can see.

Thanks Axinia. I hope you are right and the world does go right back round. 🙂 Anyday I would like to go back to a simpler life.
I guess the spiritualism that people turn to is a way for people to heal themselves…but the world is hurtling ahead anyway…

mainly farmers suicide because of no wealth to find good crop. because mainly they are so poor and have no capital for crop. finding capital by loans and private finances of interest up to 5rs.. if crop is not good even they dnt get their capital. the finance companies come sit on their necks how can they pay interest and money. mainly to keep their self respect they attempt to suicides.. u get a doubt that govt. is giving subsidies. no in 100 farmers 20 are getting that and remaining what they have to do… first govt is poor how they help.. waste govt…….. i told these words because i am a son of a farmer. u can contact me to know more my number 9533672737.. i am a 4th yr btech student

Is your second pie-diagram (occupationwise incidence of suicide) for All India or only for the nine states in the first pie-diagram? I ask because if it is for the same base population as the first, I would imagine that the absence of Gujarat and Rajasthan could make a difference in the proportion of housewives committing suicide. Of course a lot would depend on whether the “Others” in the two figures are comparable or not.

Some of Axinia’s comments are very pertinent to India. Post-liberalisation, with unbridled consumerisim, there are a whole lot of unmet and frustrated aspirations among people, and the drive to fulfil them can often lead up the path to crime, indebtedness or suicide.

It is not wrong to aspire to the material gifts of a supposedly shining economy. But is the aspiration led by one’s own desire springing from within or by a gang of smart-ass MBAs in marketing who ordain that if you are earning so many lakh per year, then Our Majesties have decided that you must lust after and buy X, Y and Z? Such “ordinances”, backed by seductive advertising using glamour figures (cricketers, Hinidi film stars etc.) and the easy availability of credit are sure-fire recipes for tragedy.

The only way to survive is to have a healthy scepticism, even contempt and despise, for MBAs in marketing, advertising people, and for glamour personalities (the fact that you have an MBA vs. my humble B.Com, are a “star” in cricket or Hindi films; can sell a Bose audio system to a stone-deaf person, does not qualify you to advise me on what toothpaste or car to buy, or even aspire to. I have my own mind and my own ideas, and in any case I am an inverted snob who believes in being different from the herd).

By all means admire cricketers and film stars if you must, but only for those attributes which make them great. In other areas of life they are as ordinary as (possibly inferior than) you and I.

Vivek, this was all-india and the states you mentioned would fall into the ‘others’ category. both diagrams are for all-india.
btw, this means that either suicides in the states you mentioned are not reported, or likely (I think this could well be so) women here do not commit as much suicide as the other states. Many women who are born and brought up in patriarchal systems readily accept the low status.

My apologies for the tangent I took in my last post. In fact it was I who had introduced the female suicide angle into this thread with my post preceding that.

Having said that, let me clarify that while systematic statistics are not available, the incidence of female suicide in these two states is certainly not lower than the others. As far as women readily accepting low status goes, for Gujarat I can say that while this may have been true of earlier generations, it no longer applies to the same extent. Also, low status and suicide cannot be directly correlated, although the former could be an indirect causative factor in the latter. There are, however a few steps in between.

Vivek, I am not sure why you feel the incidence of female suicide in Rajasthan and Gujarat is not lower than others…it may be but it may not. Why should it be higher, if that is what you believe?
And ofcourse the causes are varied. Low status may be just one of the factors…actually a lot of people who commit suicide have other problems as well. But I cannot say I am an expert on the causes of suicide…its a very complex issue. If I have suggested anywhere that low status and suicide are directly co-related, its a mistake on my part, as certainly that is not what I believe.
however the second chart, the occupation wise chart has given ‘housewives’ as a group and from here one can see (we have to assume that the stats are reliable if we have to have a discussion, if one does nto believe them, any discussion is a waste of time isn’t it..) can assume that housewives who have aspirations (again just one of the reasons!) which they cannot translate into action are the ones who are likely to be depressed the most. From what I know of Gujarati women they are strong and do not always bend to tradition…they have a fighting spirit, like Maharahstrian women. Please do not take my opinions as if carved in stone…these are just impressions!!
About Rajasthani women (I have good women friends who are Gujaratis and Rajasthanis and no, they all do not have similar backgrounds like mine) I feel they are more likely to succum to male domination..not so much because they are forced too but because they believe it. I know a lot of R women for example who disapprove of working women etc. Amongst Gujaratis this is less so. Again these are impressions from the people i know, and gathered over the last many years.

All I said was that I don’t believe the incidene of female suicide is any lower in Gujarat (I added Rajasthan because that was another important state missing from the list). It does not follow that I believe it is higher. All it means that I believe it SHOULD be lower (for more or less the same reasons as you mention, about Gujarati — and Maharashtrian — women being stronger: as I think I have mentioned in another post elsewhere in this blog, this strength has been noted or endorsed by social scientists who have done fieldwork).

However, when we use terms like Gujarati or Maharashtrian, we are generally referring to language groups. These in turn are made up of various “jatis”, each with its own traditions and value systems. A significant group that exists in both Rajasthan and Gujarat is the Rajputs who, notwithstanding their much praised traditions of valour, have a rather dubious record in the way they treat their womenfolk. There are other communities who draw their inspiration and ideals from the Rajputs, for better or worse.

Maharashtra never had a genuine Rajput class (it is a well-known and accepted fact of history that Shivaji, who needed to be acknowledged as a Rajput before he could be crowned, had to get a brahmin from Varanasi to proclaim him as one, as the brahmins of Maharashtra refused to do it. The fortunate aside to this is that the Marathas (the soi-disant “Rajputs” of Maharashtra, had a more liberal attitude to their womenfolk than the Rajputs of Rajasthan and Gujarat had. In fact, if anecdotal information is to be believed, in Maharashtra it was the Brahmins who treated their women abominably. Not only does sati seem to have been prevalent more in this class, but also the only marginally less cruel practice of “keshavapan”.

As far as the emancipation of women goes, Maharashtra had Phule, Agarkar and Karve (and even Ambedkar, though he did not directly espouse the cause of women, had a marginal influence); Gujarat had Sayajirao and Gandhi. Rajasthan had no one of comparable stature and influence.

Finally, the whole question of succumbing to male domination also has a lot to do with conditioning from childhood. If a woman’s entire upbringing revolves around Manu’s dictum that she shall go through life as a dependant, first of her father, then of her husband and then of her son, that more or less conclusively determines the kind of self image she is going to carry with her through life. Self-assertion and self-realisation cannot figure anywhere in such a scheme of things.

Vivek, thanks for the information. Very interesting, what you said about the different attitudes of the rajput classes of different classes…I did not know the historical background.
But about present day ‘rajput’ maharashtrians I have the impression that they treat their women worse than the brahmins. This is again impressions derived from people I know. What do you think of this?

First a clarification, the sense in which I used the term “Rajput”, it is interchangeable with “Kshatriya”. I don’t think the Marathas use the term “Rajput”, they use “Kshatriya”. I mixed up terms because I have now lived in Gujarat for such a long time that I sometimes use words in a different sense than they convey in Marathi.

My comment on how Maharashtrian Brahmins treated their women applies mainly to my grandparents’ generation — people born around AD 1880-1900 — and it is based both on my personal observations and on my reading of Marathi literature, non-fiction as well as fiction.

About Marathas, while I have known quite a few families socially, these are either modern, educated, urban and professional or they are prosperous agricultural families. They do not make up enough of a representative sample. But my informal conversations with them and reminiscences shared by them were notable for their absence of references to maltreatment of women. Whereas similar conversations with Brahmin friends would inevitably throw up the topic.

Possibly, with your army upbringing, you are in a better position to connect with a more representative cross-section of Marathas.

Actually my experiences with the Maratha community is limited too…and not connected with the army as such. I know 4 families, basically as we moved around in different parts of india after marriage. Also, my mother in law comes from Kolhapur and she herself knows the Maratha community very well, and well, I have heard horror stories. Also a friend of a very good friend, was very badly treated at home, she was a brahmin married to a maratha, and when her husband died in an accident she was thrown out as she had 2 girls. Now, this could I guess happen even in a brahmin family, but somehow I have nto come across so many incidents. I always felt that the maratha community treated its women worse than the brahmins…mainly because the tradition of education was very strong amongst brahmin women…my great grandmother was example was a double graduate and a freedom fighter, from the Dixit family. And my mother’s mother was an MA in English…maratha women were not this educated.
But maybe I am probably wrong as I simply do not know enough people to make a judgement.

Your sources are probably as “representative” as mine, though in a different way. Let us both accept that we do not have enough authentic information and leave it at that.

As far as your own family history goes, that would certainly be very atypical. True, a few Brahmin women (mainly Chitpavan) did have high academic achievements in the late-19th c. The name that immediately comes to mind is that of Anandibai Joshi, who was encouraged by her husband Gopalrao to study after they got married. She went on to study medicine in the USA, and died of tuberculosis within a year after she returned to India.

The admittedly enlightened Gopalrao’s overall treatment of his wife, though, was far from chivalrous. Anandibai’s biography, written by Kashitai Kanitkar, is believed to be a more authentic account than the more popular “Anandi-Gopal” (the author’s name slips me at the moment). There are a couple of more recently published scholarly studies on her too (again the authors’ names elude me).

In fact among Maharashtrian women of the 19th century, the most striking for having received a well-rounded (though not modern or English) education seems to have been Manu Tambe (a Karhade Brahmin) of Benares, who went on to become Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi. Of the women who received a modern, English education, Annapurna Tarkhadkar stands out (late 19th c. I don’t know what caste the Tarkhadkars were. I know they were neither Brahmin nor CKP nor Pathare — the three earliest Maharashtrian castes to modernise under British rule).

Yet one must not forget that, during roughly the same time period, Bengal also underwent similar parallel and contradictory experiences such as atrocities against women on the one hand and their emancipation on the other.

Anna Tarkhad was from Brahmin,subcaste.(1855-1891)First Maharastrian woman who went abroad for higher studies.Got married with an Irish man but remained Hindu.Ravindranath Tagore was sent to her residence at Girgaon,Mumbai (when he was 18yrs)to learn English manners.He gave her a new name”Nalini.”(Lotus flower)Anna,s all publications were published by the name”Lotus Flower”.

I find that there is no statistic which can speak for lack of hope. The entire world suffers in many ways. Economics, family, disease, intolerance and many other strifes I cannot name. Education can bring about knowledge but it will never bring about hope if not taught. We are so busy trying to analyze the reasons for failure that we have stopped looking for answers beyond our own power. In other words we stopped teaching there is really hope to be found in truth.

I don’t think that dependence on men(economic or otherwise) and housewives unable to meet their aspirations are causes for high suicide rates among Indian women as it seems to be indicated above. Well the chart shows housewives as a major portion of suicides but the chart shows housewives as a single group and working women as a part of the group they are employed with. This could be a reason why the chart indicates that housewives are a major portion of suicides.

The next point is that around forty years ago there was a much greater portion of Indian women who were housewives and suicide rates among men and women were much lower. Also when one looks at world suicide rates, arab nations have the lowest suicide rate with men commiting suicide at twice or thrice the rate of women. Arab nations have a lesser number of women working than in India and women are very dependent on men in those nations. Meanwhile in ex communist countries in eastern europe where most women work the suicide rates are extremely high for men and women. Now I am not trying to suggest that working women have a higher chance of commiting suicide than housewives as the countries mentioned above have their own seperate problems. Similarly one should not conclude that being a housewife increases the risk for suicide without considering the problems Indian women face.

Many Indian women whether working or housewives face problems of dowry and being unwanted by their own parents at childbirth. This is a good reason for suicide rates among Indian women to be very high. If housewives are at a greater risk to dowry harassment than working women (as some people suggest) this is because in modern, materialistic India many families value a working woman more than a housewife. Few people today value the contributions or the importance of a housewife. The media, government and the Indian “liberals” are also responsible in degrading the role of housewife by potraying housewives as powerless victims of the patriachy and by pushing for more women to work. If housewives are more likely to commit suicide( as the stats above suggest) then the reasons mentioned above are the causes. Just by being a housewife, a woman’s chances of commiting suicide do not increase. It is treatment of women and the importance given to women in society that leads to higher rates of women commiting suicide.

the more you progress the more you commit suicide…!
the more progressive ,liberal you are the more you commit suicide,and the more you are supportive to suicide(its a persons choice and freedom!)..!
the more you develope the more you commit suicide..!
you know the people in haiti.. those who live in abject poverty.. eating mud for food..
that nations suicide rate is zero.. if its true then its the biggest irony.. dont you think?
and if thats true then we are barking at the wrong tree i think..

I have a buisness Idea to solve famers woes…it seems a very big idea actually. that it can change the status of Indian Farmers in a very Big way and not only that it is big buisness opppurtunity. But for this idea to become a reality i need the tatas the birlas or the ambanis..
to take it forward..

Also i do not know if my idea is really practical , i need someone to brainstorm with . can i trust u ..u seem to be a thoughtful one..isnt it??

i never blogged or wrote like this to anyone prior..if u get this can u please repsond to my mail. maybe we can talk it over

i stay near banaglore

Prakash, I am not the right person. I am just a writer, that is my profession. I think you should approach an NGO, social activist, and those type of people. – Nita

Do you all know the reasons of suicide? Two main reasons of suicide are depression and impulsivity. Depression is caused by many factors viz failures, loss of job, unemployment, debt, loss of property, loss of money, marital discord, separation/divorce, social insult, loss of personal integrity, sexual abuse, drug abuse, torture, and traumatic experience etc. Many of these factors cause excessive stress. chronic stress leads to depression — feelings of helplessness, despair, hopelessness, frustration, worthlessness, inadequacy, uncertainty about future, anger directed towards self and irritability. The persons continuously thinks about the worst and only the worst. At last he gives up. He leaves trying to come out of this mental condition. A person who is thinking to end his life certainly manifests his suicidal ideation in the form of some signs, gestures, activities, his talking or in the form of some other body language. The need is to recognize these as early as possible.
Second, there are some people who are impulsive by nature. Such persons commit suicide suddenly in an spurt of impulse eg., a teenager may commit suicide after being scolded or punished by the parents or a teacher or if his/her demand is not fulfilled. These persons do not exhibit any sign of their suicidal ideation.

I have deeply gone through this marvelous article. I think parents, teachers and cam rads must behave their concerned fellows with good manner. Good behavior is the only thing which saved and will save many lives. We should not leave our children like any orphan, helpless and guide less which cause to this destruction. we should give our special attention to the victims of depression and treat them well. We should not oppress them nor leave them to be street urchins.

I am quite agree with your ideas. Really, well treatment is the only thing which can save our depressed children and they can turn a new leaf for their future. We should always inspire them to do well and appreciate them as well.Some times, our bad behaviour causes thme make fatal and dangerous step.We should always eye them very carefully.

I am quite agree with your ideas. Really, well treatment is the only thing which can save our depressed children and they can turn a new leaf for their future. We should always inspire them to do well and appreciate them as well.Some times, our bad behavior causes them make fatal and dangerous step.We should always eye them very carefully.

I am Deepak, from Andhra Pradesh, India. I am working in a MNC, apart from that making short films is my Hobby. An year back was into total depreesion & i had a feel of attempting what so called a Suicide… Soon realised what worng i was going to do then… I have decided to make some awarness around my friends & others as well. I have decided to Make a SHORT FILM & a DOCUMENTARY on the same subject.. request you to give ur thoughts & share those sad incidents that happend with you or aorund. Thank you .. please feel free to ask any question if you have. & Nita .. this is a great blog… My mail ID is deepak.saragadam(at)gmail.com bye everyone…

Hello Nita. I was writing a post on Suicide rates in India when I came across your post, I must say very informative and very well planned it is.
Well, actually also wanted to make you aware of this blogger called kerala8821’s ezBlog, who has submitted precisely your words and data, on a forum called fropper.com. The link is http://www.fropper.com/post/19990#show-comment
I also wanted to announce it on his post, but as I was not registered member I was not allowed to do it.
I hope you are able to do something about the same. Working towards making your bloggosheper more Plagiarism free.
Pooja

Thanks Pooja. I have written to Fropper.com and lets see if they respond. Thanks a lot for your message. – Nita.

so you are saying men should suicide more than woman?
and by the way we are no more spiritual , we are as materialistic as the west..
we are blindly following them in every aspect..
so dont claim that we are spiritual any more..
bloody west and blind east who dont know their greatness..

Good analytics from you =) Suddenly bumped into this site while I am doing my assignment on suicide.

By the way, knowing that suicide has been constantly increasing over the past 45 years, we know that suicide is one of the symptoms of our social disease as a whole. I can’t hold myself back from introducing you to something – If you have the time, do visit this global social movement – http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/

This movement champions the importance of a social transition towards a resource-based economy while identifying the flaws of the current monetary-based system that is slowly collapsing.

Do ponder at this movement’s ideas, for we cannot walk around circles living like this anymore. Rich-poor gap increasing, unemployments rising, more people being oppressed, corruptions, tens of thousands of people dying everyday due to war, poverty, hunger, and preventable diseases, would you want these things to continue? If you agree with their presented solutions, please share this movement’s ideas for everyone.🙂 Thanks.

no matter where we are in the world we all need to make time for our fellow man–in the generic term–we are all someones daughter/son/mother/father etc. We must remember to treat others in the same way that we would like to be treated. We need to look after the vulnerable in our societies , help each other , never assume just because someone doesn’t ask for help that they are doing ok –some are too proud , some do not know how to ask.People feel alone , vulnerable , trapped with no way out–we all need someone to talk to , people to share with –even just our feelings & worries –a problem shared is a problem halved –no – it may not be a solution to a problem , but knowing someone cares helps alleviate the isolation & desperation,The world is suffering from people becoming too insular , too wrapped up in themselves , forgetting about their neighbours. Mental health is often overlooked everywhere –but it;s as important as physical wellbeing–a smile or a kind word can go a long way🙂

Is the mounting burden of responsibilities driving men to the end of their tether? Numbers suggest so.

In India, one married man commits suicide every nine minutes. Of the total 1,25,017 cases of suicide in 2008, married men alone accounted for 57,639. While the number of women taking the extreme step did not lag far behind, men appeared more vulnerable to mounting social and economic pressures. In the case of women, the trigger was more emotional and personal.
The overall male-female ratio of suicide victims for the year 2008 was 64:36, according to the latest data of the National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB). The general scene is much grimmer.

Sir, don’t be silly. Life is most expensive thing in the world. Once you die you die. I will give
You ten million Rupees if you can bring back my poor father in law who committed suicide
Over money matters and left the whole lot of people devastated. He was selfish in doing that and kept his problems to himself as if he is a big shot and can solve them himself. They were solveable problems. All the family is still missing him after such a long time. Every problem has a solution if you really want to solve it. If you can’t some one else can.
Go to right people and not to the people who have problems themselves. You are fed up
Because you are not doing anything to solve it. Family is ignoring you for some reason and
Find the reason then solve it with their approval and positive steps. Don’t be a lazy person.

i don’t why the people are reacting like this….
why they are unable to know for every problem there is a solution in this world…
life is always not bed of roses…, some times it has some thorns too….
we have to learn facing the problem….. i really liked this article…..
please try to educate the people around you guys…. after some days we may not even find the word of suicides… love the stress and try to find out the solution for that…. then your life will be happy…….

i had seen many suicide cases around me…. i am unable to do anything for some…. but even i helped for some of them….
likes this web page…

I would love to be the volunteering in ur group and help as many as people we can, i have done this job in Mumbai for free and also willing to do the same in Goa or any other state as i been shifted to Goa.
Please let me know if i could participate my self in volunteering ur Group

My friend, you have reached a fellow human being who can listen to you in your present moment of agony. I ask you to read on, because I think I can bring comfort to your pained emotions. I will not criticize you, nor will I try to impose my convictions on you. I accept you as you are and I respect your right to decide on all matters concerning yourself.

Why do you feel pained my friend? Did your experiences with this world cause misery to you – misery that you could not share with anyone around? Are you sad; do you feel anxious; have you come to think that you are too tired to live on with the defeats, shame, loneliness, guilt or fear? I understand how severe your anguish must be, if it makes you consider even giving up your precious life.

My friend, may I tell you that this world also has people – people whom you’ve never known before perhaps – who are greatly concerned about you.

Read on my friend, because I want you to know that help is available to you. Help that can bring you back to that happy life you once loved. Before you act on your decisions share your agony with a concerned person – someone who will listen gently and allow you to unburden and lessen your mental pain.

Come my friend, try for once anyone of the following:

If you are from Kerala and if you believe someone familiar with your unique culture and language might understand you better, send an e-mail or letter to Maithri, which will be replied at the earliest. Or else, contact Maithri through phone during our functioning hours.

My friend, I urge you to seek assistance. Know that you are not alone. There are people who care about you. You are worthwhile.

Suicide is not the solution to any problem. Please never chose this solution. There are
Hundreds of voluntary organisations internationally to help you. They can only help if you
Seek help. They don’t know your problems and are not going to come to you. You have
To seek their help. If you need water you go to a Well. The Well doesn’t come to you.

Awsum article..,a very imp. topic covered beautifully,.but its all what we get.,we want more and more ,,we dn t hold our roots,,and we keep on ignoring the rights we have….so from where would we get relief,,.but ya the strong will thrive .,but one confusion debts were also very. High before mnc s.weren t they

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A NOTE ABOUT COMMENTS:Your response is greatly valued so go ahead and say it! I read all comments and also try to answer each one. But I don't usually answer comments on my old posts, unless someone asks a question, but your views are always welcome and every comment is a kind of update so don't hesitate.

GIVE YOUR SUGGESTIONS:If you have suggestions for posts, you are welcome to email me with your ideas at the email address given above. I shall do my best to use them.

WRITE A GUEST POST:If you wish, you can also submit an article of yours for publication but it will be published only after review and if it fits in with the style and theme of this blog. Your name and a link to your blog will be provided at the end of the article.

Any subscriptions to email forwards or newsletters will be deleted and marked as spam.

A NOTE:The newspaper and magazine articles published on this blog are written by me. However, they may not be a word for word representation of the articles published in print. They may be abridged versions, or simply updated.